Mount Union Students to Face Their Fears

October 19, 2011

Students in Dr. Kevin Meyer’s Abnormal Psychology course at the University of Mount Union will be able to take their study of phobias to a whole new level. In this case, up to 42 stories above the ground.

On Sunday, Oct. 23, more than a dozen of Meyer’s students will visit Cedar Point to participate in the Face Your Fear Project. During the day, students, who have a professed fear of roller coasters, will have the opportunity to challenge the Sandusky, Ohio, amusement park/resort’s roller coasters, including the 420-foot-tall Top Thrill Dragster.

This is the second year in a row the Abnormal Psychology class has visited the park. Last year, 12 students participated and all of them rode at least one coaster. Eight even rode Dragster.

“I was extremely pleased with last year’s results,” said Meyer. “In terms of individual goals, each student succeeded. It will be interesting to see if we can replicate last year’s success.”

This year’s project will have 15 students. For some, the challenge is to brave Top Thrill Dragster while for others Millennium Force is the goal. A few others’ phobia is being upside down in a roller coaster. One of the students participating has never visited the park and has never been on a roller coaster.

“The class is a real-life example of a treatment called exposure therapy that allows individuals to have gradual exposure to the target of their fear, in this case, roller coasters,” added Myer. “The park’s vast collection of coasters is ideal for this type of approach since it offers mild, moderate and thrilling coasters of nearly every kind.”

For guests who enjoy the park’s rides and roller coasters, there are two more haunted weekends remaining in the season for Cedar Point.

During HalloWeekends, guests can challenge the park’s rides and coasters and a variety of Halloween attractions that range from encounters with ghastly creatures to friendly monsters who dance on the midway and a parade on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

With two new fright zones, HalloWeekends now features 10 haunted attractions. This fall, Screamworks on the Frontier Trail and Blood on the Bayou, located in a wooded area along the lagoon, add to the fright level.

HalloWeekends will be held Friday nights, Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 28-30. Cedar Point will be open 6 p.m. to midnight on Friday nights (only a portion of the park will be open); noon to midnight on Saturdays; and noon to 9 p.m. Sundays.

For more information about HalloWeekends, please visit halloweekends.com or call the park’s General Information Line at 419.627.2350.